Investigations into the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case have revealed that the accused Gujarat cops had fired a total of 70 rounds on the teenager and her alleged associates — Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Jeeshan Johar — during the shootout on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in the wee hours of June 15, 2004, while not even a single shot was fired in retaliation from the deceased persons. Probe report by the CBI, which filed a detailed chargsheet in the case in a local court in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, says, “The firing on the deceased had taken place in two successive stages. In the first round of firing during the fake encounter, the accused Gujarat cops (including Tarun Barot and Mohan Kalaswa) exhausted their ammunition and stopped firing.” Thereafter, for the second round of firing, Barot and Kalswa forcibly took away the weapon of I.K. Chauhan and started firing on the detainess.
While giving details of how many round were fired and by whom, the report said, “While Mohan Kalaswa fired a total of 42 rounds during the shootout, another accused Gujarat cop — Anaju Jiman — fired a total of 10 rounds on Ishrat and three others.” Mohan Kalasawa allegedly fired from AK-56 automatic assault rifle, which was allegedly provided by subsidiary intelligence bureau (SIB), an unit of the Intelligence Bureau, at the official Gypsy of the police in which the detainees were kept.
Two police officers of the team which executed the encounter — I.K. Chauhan and Commando Mohan Nanji — had refused to fire upon four victims following which Mohan Kalasawa and Tarun Barot snatched their weapons and shot the victims dead, sources said. It is believed that Mr Chauhan and Mr Nanji have become CBI’s witness in the case.